Emperor Cheng'an pointed at him with trembling fingers, looking as if he were about to collapse.

The commander of the Palace Guard slowly stood up and looked at him, giving a perfunctory bow: "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself. I will lead men to guard the palace to ensure Your Majesty's safety."

Emperor Cheng'an's eyes were bloodshot with rage, filled with fear and dread. He roared like a madman, "Get out! Get out of here! Someone! Someone, come to my rescue!"

However, the commander of the Palace Guard simply stood there and coldly watched him. The rest of the eunuchs and palace maids were so frightened that they knelt on the ground, trembling, but none of them dared to help Emperor Cheng'an pass on the order.

Emperor Cheng'an's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling on the ground. He kicked them frantically as if venting his anger: "Get up! Get up, all of you! Quickly summon the Imperial Guards and arrest this traitor and execute him!"

"I will reward you handsomely!"

However, no one paid any attention to him, and no one dared to pay any attention to him.

The commander of the Palace Guards watched him shout and yell like a madman, then turned away in boredom and ordered the guards, "Keep a close watch on the gate. If His Majesty suffers any mishap, you will all come to me with your heads."

The guards were all in good order and disciplined, a stark contrast to the decadent and ineffective guards of the past.

Emperor Cheng'an looked at all this and slumped to the ground in despair: "It's all over, it's all over."

He thought he still had a chance against Xue Shen, but in reality, without his knowledge, Xue Shen had already laid a trap that tightly bound Qi Zhong, leaving him with no way to escape.

Now, Xue Shen is beginning to close the net.

An immense fear spread through Emperor Cheng'an's heart. He recalled Xue Shen's words to him in his bedchamber, and his face twisted in a grimace as he muttered to himself, "Even if I die, I will not let you have your way!"

Even in death, he would still be the master of this great Wei dynasty, a rightful emperor, worthy of being enshrined in the imperial mausoleum, worshipped in the ancestral temple, and placed alongside the memorial tablets of the late emperors and empresses.

Even if Xue Shen became emperor, people would still have to reluctantly worship him.

Emperor Cheng'an sat on the ground, his hair disheveled, looking like a madman, and laughed self-deceivingly.

*

When Empress Zhou learned of the incident in Emperor Cheng'an's palace, she stood up anxiously: "The commander of the Palace Guard is actually Xue Shen's man?"

She paced anxiously in the hall, saying, "No, if Xue Shen succeeds, what's the point of all my hard work and planning?"

All the humiliation she suffered before was for nothing.

Moreover, Xue Shen had a blood feud with her for killing her son, and coupled with the grudges against the Shen family, if Xue Shen were to ascend the throne, her and the Zhou family's fate would definitely not be good.

Having figured this out, Empress Zhou hurriedly summoned her trusted confidante: "Go quickly and send a message to my elder brother, telling him to gather troops and prepare to send soldiers to defend the emperor and purge the court of corrupt officials!"

No matter what Emperor Cheng'an was like, he still held the right to be emperor in terms of title.

If they can grasp this point and get their elder brother to send troops to defend the emperor, the Zhou family will be the greatest contributors after the mission is accomplished.

The isolated and helpless Emperor Cheng'an could only be a puppet in their hands.

Once Zhou Zhenrong's child is born, Emperor Cheng'an will be useless. From then on, the world will belong to the Zhou family.

Empress Zhou, thinking of the happy days to come, could hardly contain her smile. She gripped her confidante's hand tightly and repeated, word by word, "Go tell my elder brother to gather troops as soon as possible. Do not hesitate or delay, or things will change. We must succeed before the King of Qin!"

*

"Empress Zhou's people have left the capital."

Almost simultaneously, Xue Shen also received a message from his scouts.

He had been keeping an eye on Empress Zhou's movements, so he knew that Empress Zhou and Zhou Qing had been secretly in contact. Because Empress Zhou was in the inner palace, there were many things that were inconvenient for her to do, so Zhou Qing secretly did them for her.

Xue Shen knew about this all along and deliberately kept them around, simply to make the hunting game more interesting.

Imagine if Emperor Cheng'an, in a desperate situation of isolation and helplessness, suddenly discovered that the Zhou family had sent troops to attack the Prince of Qin, wouldn't that give him a great sense of hope?

What Xue Shen wanted to do was to personally extinguish his hope and plunge him back into despair.

Killing Emperor Cheng'an was not enough to satisfy his hatred; he wanted to make Emperor Cheng'an suffer an even deeper, more unbearable pain.

"Keep a close eye on them, and if necessary, we can do them some favors."

"Yes, I understand."

The scouts left, and Xue Shen came out of the study, intending to go to Tingmei Pavilion to see Shen Youying, when he suddenly remembered that she had mentioned wanting to eat Fanlou's Eight Treasure Duck that morning.

Xue Shen turned around, intending to go to Fanlou to buy Eight Treasure Duck before going to see Shen Youying.

Because she was worried about complications during childbirth, Shen Youying didn't dare to eat too much rich food these days, and mostly ate light dishes.

It was rare for Shen Youying to bring up what she wanted to eat, so Xue Shen wanted to cheer her up and went out to buy it himself.

Everyone in Fanlou knew him, and Xue Shen didn't have to wait long before a freshly baked eight-treasure duck was served in a food box.

Xue Shen paid the money and rode back to his residence.

As he passed through the main street, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He abruptly pulled on the reins and stopped, turning around to search through the crowd, but the familiar figure that had just flashed by was nowhere to be found.

Xue Shen frowned slightly. Was he seeing things, or had Xue Heng really returned?

So much time has passed since the murder of the late empress was revealed; if Xue Heng had wanted to inquire, he would naturally have learned of the news.

It's not surprising that he'll come back.

Xue Shen glanced at the bustling crowd, no longer fixated on searching for the figure from before. He spurred his horse and continued on his way to the Prince of Qin's residence.

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